A Certain Out of Control Situation
by StoriedMagi
Summary: Sequel to A Certain Genderbent Story, reworked for more consistency and less mistakes in the writing. Again, low character limit, so no summary
1. Chapter 1

**This work is based (mostly) on the work of Kazuma Kamachi and other writers. A translation from Baka Tsuki was used in its creation and I claim no ownership over their work. Please Read, Review, and Enjoy.**

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><p>It was a dark, windowless room, completely devoid of what one would call natural light. It was a room that was completely isolated from the outside world, with no way to enter or exit the room except via a certain level 4 esper's teleportation ability.<p>

The building that contained said room was an ominous looking tower made up of materials that have been known to deflect impacts from tactical railguns and could even survive the force nuclear fallout if needed.

It could have been said that this room was the most impenetrable of fortresses known to the general populace of mankind.

"… This is quite a gloomy place you have here… You know that right?"

It was in such a room that the female magician known as Styx Magnus found herself.

Styx was a fourteen year old who was well-versed in the art of runic magic and possessed an affinity for fire magic. She had blood red hair that fell down her back in an untamed fashion, with piercings on her ears and several pieces over her face. She wore an incomplete all black nun's habit with numerous pockets, both seen and hidden to the eye.

Styx looked around the room with a critical eye before she sighed.

_God… Why do I have to be here? If I had known that I was going to be dragged back here, I would have prepared first. Those idiots had me go all the way back home the long way and then turned me around to send me right back here._

Styx was currently a member of a magic organization known as "Necessarius", The Church of Necessary Evil. The magic organization was a branch organization connected secretly to the Church of England, and was responsible for the containment of magic threats against England.

The reason she was so irritated about her presence, not only in the room where she found herself, but also in the city in which the building that contained the room was contained, was because the city was Academy City. Academy City was a city that was based entirely on a foundation of science, and rejected the very idea of the existence of the supernatural and, by extension, magic.

Styx's presence in this city was akin to having a fantasy book on the same shelf as a book explaining the in depth complexities of quantum physics. To Styx, who had spent most of her life amongst magic, the feeling of being in a place where by rights she should not exist was one that felt utterly unnatural to her.

Styx sighed again and reached up to rub the back of her head.

_Why am I even here? Representative my ass, I can barely keep myself from shivering here. I might be a cold hearted bitch that can kill a person in a moment's notice, but still…_

Styx looked infront of herself with a stony expression, but she could not still her heart as it skipped a beat.

The area before her was so large that Styx found it hard to describe it as an in-door area. There were supposedly no normal lighting fixtures within it, but the room was somehow being lit from the numerous flashing screens and buttons from the machinery all over the room. Thousands of flashing electrical cables and glowing tubes of liquid were gathering toward the center of the room like blood vessels racing towards the heart of a body.

And the 'heart' in this case was an enormous glowing cylinder that stood in the exact center of the room.

It was a cylinder that was four meters in diameter and just over ten meters in height. It was supposedly made of a special reinforced glass that would not shatter under any condition and filled with a strange red liquid.

Supposedly, the color of the liquid was supposed to be that of a weakly alkaline recovery fluid, but to a magician like Styx, whose area of expertise did not include the science behind such things, it looked disturbingly like blood.

Inside the cylindrical tube of blood red liquid, a human wearing a green surgical cloak floated upside down with a smile.

There was no word beside "human" that Styx could have used to describe the human that was in that tube. They were a silver-haired "human" that appeared to be a beautiful woman but also somewhat masculine; like an adult but also somewhat childlike; like a holy saint but also the most depraved criminal.

Styx briefly wondered if the human in front of her had simply obtained all of the possibilities that a human could be, or had they given up on all those possibilities in an attempt to obtain something more?

_Regardless of how I think of it, this thing can only be a "human"._

"All those who have come here before you and have observed my form have each come up with an explanation similar to yours, so it is not something you need to spend too much time thinking upon."

The "human" in the cylinder spoke as if they had read Styx's mind with a knowing smile on their face. Styx clicked her tongue in annoyance, but said or thought nothing about it as the "human" in front of her chuckle in amusement.

"Now then… I suppose you'd want to know why I called you here then..."

The General Director of Academy City, the "human" named Aleistera, spoke with a stern tone that was filled with a lightheartedness that threw Styx off whenever she heard it. A

"There is a… situation that has arisen within my city that has become too… complicated for me to act freely in."

A bead of sweat formed on Styx's brow as the gaze of the General Director fell upon her. Still remaining stony faced, the magician took a deep breath before sighing.

"…This is regarding the power known as Gray Matter, if I am correct in guessing?"

Gray Matter: The Source and Destroyer of Darkness.

It was a name Styx had heard before but had never grown familiar with. It was not due to a lack of interest in the name but rather due to both a lack of information about said name, and a greater interest in the context the name had been used. Due to both of these factors, Styx could only assume that this power was great one, akin to a primal force of nature.

And now that same power had somehow found its way into the hands of a magician like her.

Aleistera, in the meanwhile, nodded their head, which was a bit disorientating for Styx who was right side up compared to Aleistera's upside down

"This situation wouldn't have been a problem for me at all if it were an esper-only issue, because it would be one of the espers that I 'owned', so to speak. As long as it's a citizen of this city that creates a commotion in it, there would be at least 70,632 ways to handle it and clean up..."

… _Not giving a concrete answer I see._

Styx felt no emotion invoked from by the "human's" the explanation. She was utterly uninterested in any form of Academy City procedure and was only listening so as not to appear rude.

The human did not seem to notice Styx's disinterest, yet changed the subject anyway.

"Now then… the situation that I am referring to started out within the realm at which I could deal with it by simply sending in one or two of my 2.3 million espers in to resolve it. I chose not to do so simply because I felt that it was not a considerable threat on day to day life in the city."

"… And that changed."

The human in the cylinder smiled knowingly at Styx as the magician finished their thought.

"The complication in the situation arose when a magician decided to interfere where they need not be. This has caused the situation to become one where I cannot act freely."

The human made a slight gesture as if to demonstrate their annoyance.

"It would be easy to send in my espers to simply crush the magician and resolve the situation, but that would only lead to complications regarding the order that Science and Magic are currently maintaining."

An inhuman smile crossed the human's face, and Styx could not help but feel that it fit the human all too well.

"Because… Esper's defeating mages would mean that Science can fight against Magic."

Styx silently frowned and tried her best to not focus on the human form in front of her.

The two worlds, both the one of Science and the one of Magic, had spheres of influence that they strictly adhered to. Regardless of whether it was called "ESP" or "Magic" it was because both sides agreed not to study or interfere with each other so as to maintain the stability of the world around them and not be at each other's throat at a regular basis.

So if Academy City, the bastion of science, took action against any magician, the Magic side would not remain silent, regardless of whether or not the magician was in good standing with the magic side or not.

Any form of Science interacting with Magic could lead to some sort of discovery that would render either side weaker as a result.

It was like having one country defeat a rouge agent from another, and due to the encounter, said country would be able to learn secrets about the other. It would be indirect espionage.

… _That is all well and good, but where does that leave me?_

Two weeks ago, Styx had entered Academy City, unannounced to the powers that be within the city, and had an encounter with an esper that ended with her complete and utter defeat. From the explanation that the human had given, there should have been some sort of repercussion due because of that, yet Styx had seen no sign of such a thing happening.

From the time she had left this city two weeks ago, Styx had worried that because of her stupidity both the world of Science and the world of Magic would be going to war with each other, but her fears had yet to be answered.

So all the red haired magician could do was sigh in annoyance.

_As long as I beat the fool who came here, the Magic side should be satisfied enough to overlook what I did before. That just means that I have to beat that fool._

As if on some kind of unseen cue, the human known as Aleistera smiled and waved their hand in front of themselves is a sort of summoning motion.

"Just to make sure you do not die due to not understanding the 'battlefield', how about some information about the building where the magician is holed up in?"

Suddenly, as if to display the technological capacity of the room, several holographic displays appeared in front of Styx, each sporting computer like graphics that showed various images and documents. All of the images and documents seemed to be related to each other, and one of the screens caught the magician's attention.

The image displayed a building that looked as if it belonged in Academy City, and in a caption underneath the picture, the words 'Misawa Cram School' were set in plain black font.

The human named Aleistera gestured with an open hand at the holographic images that swirled around Styx.

"Now then… Amongst those images that you see, you will find everything that could help you with this 'battle'. There are the initial blueprints that we have had on file since the creation of the building, various satellite images we have taken over the years, as well as several street level images. There has been an extensive analysis of the interior of the building since the situation has escalated, but due to our incompatibility with magic, we have no idea as to what sort of magic you should be expecting."

… _Look down on me more why don't you?_

Sighing in annoyance again, Styx began to look over the data provided. She noted many of the strange events that concluded with the appearance of the magician, most of all the events related to the power known as Gray Matter. She even clicked her tongue when she saw one of the images relating to it.

"So… It really is here, isn't it?"

Aleistera chuckled in a playful way.

"Are you speaking of the Gray Matter? Yes it has been confirmed to me by several sources that the true Gray Matter is indeed here, and it is somehow related to what is going on in Misawa Cram School."

Styx stared at the image which she had clicked her tongue at for several more seconds before sighing.

_So if Gray Matter is somehow related to what is going on within Misawa Cram School, then there is a good chance that those things are involved as well. Those-…_

"Akuma… right?"

Styx's eyes shot up to the encased human, who was smiling in a contented manner.

"Because of the power Gray Matter possesses, it is forever tied to those poor creatures, though few would actually feel such sympathy for them. It follows simple logic that the appearance of Gray Matter means the appearance of Akuma."

"…Che!"

Styx looked back at the screens in front of her after she clicked her tongue, her mind racing in a mixture of fear and anger.

_What in the world am I supposed to do about this?! If those things are actually there, I will barely have a chance. I can kill two or three of those things if I focused on it, but if there are any more than that… I won't be able to do this-…_

"Before you give into panic, Miss Representative, I would like to inform you that you will not need to fight alone."

Again Styx's eyes locked gazes with those of the human in cylinder.

_H-How can they-…?_

"Read your mind? I would love to say it is a trade secret, but the reason is that your face is just too easy to read."

Styx grimaced at the insult the human sighed out, but did nothing else in response to it. Instead, she gestured an open hand at the human in the cylinder.

"You were saying something about me not needing to fight alone?"

The human began to smile slyly again as she nodded.

"Ah, yes. I hope it calms you that there are currently two individuals in the city currently that can assist you in attacking Misawa Cram School and the magician within. The first of the two is another member of your magic side."

Styx raised a perplexed eyebrow.

"Another magician? I thought I was the only representative of the Magic side that was assigned to this situation. I came here not only with orders from my organization, but also the blessing of the Roman Catholic Church. Why would they do that and just send another person as well?"

The human in the cylinder shrugged in the face of Styx's question.

"I am not indulged with the specifics of Magic politics, but to me, it seems that you are the official representative on which all the blame is placed, and the other is the unofficial representative, who does all that work."

Styx clicked her tongue in annoyance yet again.

_Well I hope that this bastard is at least useful. If not, he'll just be getting in my way._

Styx looked up at the human in the cylinder.

"So… that's one possible helper. Who's the other?"

The human in the cylinder again gave an inhuman smile that did not look out of place on their face.

"Well… I doubt a proper explanation of them is moot, seeing as the two of you are already acquainted."

Styx briefly raised a perplexed eyebrow, but her entire body froze as she caught on to what the human was talking about. A spot in the back of her head and the entire right side of her face began to throb in a dull memory of pain. The magician clenched her hands into fists and bit her lower lip.

"No…"

The human in the cylinder tilted their head to the side, the inhuman smile still on her face.

"No? No what? No you will not use her to fight? Wouldn't that be such a waste though? Such a convenient power is yours to use, yet you don't want to use it? What problems do you have with making your life easier?"

Styx looked up at the human in the cylinder, her annoyed state clear in her eyes.

"What problems do I have? Isn't that obvious? You just explained one of the biggest problems with using her to fight the magician. If I were to use one of your espers to help in defeating a magician, wouldn't that defeat the purpose in my coming here to this city in order to prevent an encounter between science and magic?"

The human in the cylinder chuckled.

"Well I am perfectly fine with that girl encountering magic, as I'm sure you already know. I allowed for her to encounter you two weeks ago, after all, and I'm also allowing for that boy to stay with her as well. If I had a problem with her encountering magic, I wouldn't have allowed for either of those things to happen."

Styx grimaced again.

"It doesn't matter whether you are fine with it or not. I can clear up this situation by myself, without any help from you or anyone else. Gray Matter might pose a small problem, but with enough preparation I'll be able to beat it. It's in the hands of a second rate magician anyway, so I doubt that it will even get any use."

The human in the cylinder sighed and shrugged.

"Well it is your discretion as to what tools you wish to use, but… Did you refer to your enemy as a second rate magician?"

Styx sighed and began to rub the back of her head.

"Yeah I did. This magician is undeniably second rate. They pulled of an incredibly stupid stunt, and couldn't have the decency to not get tracked after doing it. If they had any pride of a magician, they would have at least made it hard to find themselves."

The human in the cylinder grinned again, and waved her hand in the summoning motion from earlier. Another holographic screen appeared in the air before Styx, this one containing an image of a person.

"Is this the second rate magician you were talking about?"

Styx opened her mouth to respond, but her entire body froze once she looked at the picture in front of her. After she did, she could do only one thing.

"Fuck me…"

The human in the cylinder gave another inhuman smile.


	2. A Certain Oblivious Protaganist

**This work is based (mostly) on the work of Kazuma Kamachi and other writers. A translation from Baka Tsuki was used in its creation and I claim no ownership over their work. Please Read, Review, and Enjoy.**

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><p>"Ah-Ahcoo!"<p>

Kamijou Touka wiped her nose after she had sneezed and sighed.

"How many times am I going to sneeze today? Am I coming down with a summer cold?... Such misfortune…"

Kamijou sighed again as the heat from the summer sun beat down on Kamijou as she walked down the street. The date was August the 8th so the time was rapidly approaching the tail end of summer, yet the heat of the day made it feel like summer had just started. Just walking around outside in the heat caused Kamijou to sweat profusely, and she could only sigh in dismay at the fact.

_Why did I have to choose today to walk around town like an idiot? I should have just sat around in the nice air con of my room and relaxed, but no, I had to go out and buy a book I don't even need._

Kamijou looked down at the item which had caused her to go out into the summer heat, a general reference book, and sighed yet again.

_To think that one simple reference book would cause 3,600 yen and a few hours of headaches… such misfortune…_

Several hours ago, it had been morning and Kamijou had been wandering around her room, cleaning and organizing all the junk that was in her room. It was a very simple task, seeing as she had been doing for the past week. Over that time, as she went through all the books she owned, Kamijou had found a disturbing trend amongst them.

There was not a single book amongst Kamijou's entire collection that related to studying in anyway. She had several manga books from different series, light novels, and the occasional magazine with stupid articles such as "How to pick up a foreign guy without speaking his language" or "How to know your partner is cheating on you", but not a single textbook or book of notes.

Kamijou had, at the time of discovering this fact, decided that she should have one or two books on her shelves that related to studying, just so she could give off the illusion that she cared about studying. With that in mind, she decided to head to one of the nearby bookstores in order to purchase the books.

Once she reached the nearest bookstore, however, she found it to be nearly torn apart, and the only attendant who was still able to talk told her that because of the rapidly approaching summer exams, many of the bookstores around the city had begun offering nearly every reference book at half price.

Needless to be said, the resulting panic was beyond what the shops were expecting. Combining the stress from approaching exams, the lure of cheap study tools, and espers was an obviously bad combination from the destruction that Kamijou had seen in that bookstore, and the smart thing to do at that time would have been to abandon the idea of buying a reference book. Kamijou however did not think about that at all, instead choosing to continue looking for a store that could sell her a book.

20 warzone of bookstores later, Kamijou had finally found a store that was in a condition where it could sell her a reference book. This bookstore was not participating in the promotion, so the number of students there were much smaller than the other stores, so Kamijou was able to quickly pick up the reference book for her grade level and buy it without thinking twice.

It was only after all of that when she thought about whether or not she actually should buy the reference book. She hadn't checked whether or not her budget would have allowed for this purchase, and the time wasted just to get it was costly enough as it was.

_There are still a ton of things I have to learn about this place, and my past self wasn't diligent enough to leave a diary. You shouldn't expect to lose all your memories, but there should at least be some sort of picture or note!_

Kamijou sighed yet again. Two weeks ago, the student had lost all her memories prior to waking up in a hospital bed. She had lost her memories of events, rather than her knowledge of how things work, so she could still use of phone without a problem, but she could not remember where in the world she got the phone to begin with.

_If I could only figure out how I acted before I lost my memories that would make my life so much easier. I might not have enjoyed studying before I lost my memories, but I can't remember what we were studying in class before we went on break, no idea about what homework we might have to do over the vacation, and …_

As Kamijou's thoughts raced with all the things she could not remember, she sighed yet again. As she did, a tired sounding voice spoke out from her side.

"Touka…? What's the matter…?"

Kamijou turned her head to look at the half-dead Index, who had been walking beside her this entire time.

Index looked like he was around 13 or 14 years old, and one could instantly tell from his features that he was, without a doubt, foreign. He had extremely short silver hair that had barely managed to poke out from under his priest's cap. He had skin that was pure white from what Kamijou could see of it, as most of his body was hidden under a white Christian priest's robe, which appeared to be held together by safety pins. Index's emerald eyes were half open due to the boy being exhausted by a combination of the summer heat and his heavy outfit.

Kamijou had met Index two weeks ago in a hospital, mere moments after she had woken up for the first time in her eyes. From the way that the boy interacted with her, Kamijou figured that the two must have had a strong bond prior to that meeting. Since Kamijou had lost all her memories, however, she could not remember who Index was, or what the bond they had formed was.

The day Kamijou had meet Index in that hospital, the boy had cried tears when Kamijou had "pretended" to forget about him. These tears were shed for the Kamijou who had existed prior to two weeks ago, a Kamijou that the current Kamijou could not begin to understand. However, those tears had somehow moved Kamijou's heart, so instead of telling Index the truth, she decided to protect the boys fragile hopes and chose to don a façade of the Kamijou who had not lost her memories.

Doing this did not make her feel right; in fact she felt a tremendous sense of guilt every time she looked at the boy. She wanted more than anything to tell the boy the truth, yet the fear of seeing that tearful expression again, and joy of seeing that boy's smile every day, made her able to bear with the guilt. So the façade continued, unabated.

However, regardless of the façade, Kamijou could not help but feel guilty at the current sight of the boy. She had said it was just going to be a quick walk outside down to the store, yet Index had stoutheartedly said that he would walk around with Kamijou to protect her. Now, hours of summer heat later, the boy looked like he was going to fall over if a gust of wind hit him the wrong way.

_Any more than this will be bad. Maybe…_

"H-Hey Index…"

The foreign priest looked over at Kamijou, his entire body shaking from the motion of just turning his head.

Kamijou did her best to look innocent by reaching up and scratching her cheek.

"Y-You know that… if you want… we could stop somewhere and get out of the heat."

Index looked at Kamijou with an initially confused look, but then he smiled weakly at her.

"You don't… have to worry about me… Touka… A little heat… won't kill me…"

Kamijou looked at the sweat that was practically flowing down Index's face, and the glazed over look to the boy's emerald eyes gave off before tilting her head in confusion.

_You look like you're about collapse from a heat stroke, and you are choosing to say that I shouldn't worry about you? I really don't understand what this boy is thinking._

Kamijou refocused on the dazed looking boy, and found that he was focusing on something that was behind her. Curious as to what he was looking at, Kamijou turned and saw the focus of the boy's attention. It was an ice cream shop, with all the gaudy colors and pictures of the item plastered on the street facing windows. When Kamijou saw this, she couldn't help but smile.

_So you are feeling it, huh?_

Kamijou turned back to look at Index, who had noticed that Kamijou noticed his fascination with the ice cream shop. He was doing his best to look away from the direction of the ice cream shop and whistle, failing at both.

Kamijou smiled at the boy.

"You know Index… If you want, we could go get some ice cream. I'm sure the air con and the ice cream should help you recover."

Index tried to smile and look away from Kamijou in order to dissuade any further talk about the subject. When that failed, he resorted to alternate tactics.

"W-Well… Touka, didn't you just spend a lot of money on that book? Wouldn't it be a waste of money to buy ice cream so soon after making such a purchase?"

Kamijou looked down at the reference book and sighed.

"Oh yeah… this fucking thing…"

Kamijou said it in the most deadpan way before sighing again.

"Well, I've already spent a bunch of money on this thing, so why don't we go all out, shall we?"

As she said that, Kamijou instantly began to inwardly panic.

_What am I going to do?! I don't even know if my budget will allow for buying this stupid book and food for the week! Index needs this, but still this sucks!_

Index lowered his head and sighed as Kamijou thought this, and began to gesture in another attempt to dissuade Kamijou.

"Well Touka… Even if I wanted to waste your money, I'm a priest in training. Besides certain cigarettes and wine, I can't consume any sort of luxury good in order to strengthen my faith in god. That means things like coffee, tea, or, unfortunately, sweets. So I can't eat any ice cream today."

Kamijou sighed once she heard that.

_I know that there are some strange religious practices out there, but did you have to try and bring that up? I just want you to take a rest, not hurt you in any way._

Kamijou bit her lower lip as she went over her option as to how to convince Index to rest.

_I could just walk in there and order something for me and him, but I don't feel like eating Ice cream…_

"Ah… Kami-chan, is that ya'?"

Kamijou was surprised to hear such an obviously fake Kansai accent say her name, and, out of sheer curiosity, she turned her head to look at the person who had said it.

The speaker was a girl who was around Kamijou's height and age, with long and straight blue hair that flowed down her head to her waist. The girl had on a cropped white tank top that did very little to hide her body due to the amount of sweat the girl was giving off due to the heat. Kamijou could clearly see the black bra that blue haired girl had on under the tank top, and her uncovered stomach. The girl also had on some black cargo pants and sandals.

"…"

… _Who the hell is this?_

The blue haired girl stared at Kamijou as if she was expecting a response from Kamijou, but Kamijou could not bring herself to speak for some weird reason. It was like a fear was gripping her mouth, keeping her from speaking. Finally before Kamijou could even speak, the blue haired girl decided to move closer to Kamijou and Index.

"Uh… Kami-chan? Did I say sumtin' weird? Ya're looking at me like I'm some sort of stranger. Did the summer heat get ta ya head or sumtin' and make ya forget about me?"

"… What…?"

Kamijou finally managed to regain control of her mouth, only to sputter out that one word question. This only caused the blue haired girl to laugh in Kamijou's face.

"I'm just joking, Kami-chan. Ya should know that the memory loss flag is only a special privilege reserved for those who have interesting lives… In other words, not someone like you."

The blue haired girl threw her arm around Kamijou before she could even react. The girl squeezed Kamijou's body close to hers, even though it was way too hot for two people to share any form of body heat. The blue haired girl did not seem at all phased by the closeness, and simply began looking between Kamijou and Index. The Girl then cupped her hand over Kamijou's ear before whispering to her.

"By the way Kami-chan… Who's the stud with ya? How in the world did a normally unlucky girl like ya get to know such a hottie? Is he ya cousin or sometin'? … On second thought, I doubt that, since I don't think silver hair would run in ya gene pool."

"…"

_Did I… Was I really friends with such a weirdo?_

Before Kamijou could do anything to get away from the weirdo in front of her, the potential former friend of her pulled her closer to whisper more.

"Ok Kami-chan, I've figured out how everything went down here. That guy over there asked you for directions, yet because ya always have a constant F in English, ya couldn't do anything to answer him. So ya were having problems talking to him until I came along to bail ya out. I'm right, ain't I?"

"…"

Kamijou looked over at Index in the vague hope that he could help her out, but she saw that the boy was swaying from side to side in the nonexistent wind. The student could see beads of sweat flowing down the boy's forehead, and the priest had a small grin on his face, showing he was blissfully unaware of what was going on around him.

Kamijou attempted to sigh when she saw this, but the blue haired girl pulled Kamijou even closer, so that their faces were barely a centimeter apart.

"But really now Kami-chan, ya're really lucky to have met me before things got bad. Ya always have to be wary around these foreign guys, ya know? They all look nice and pretty on the outside, but hidden underneath those masks of theirs are beasts with gigantic sexual appetites. If I hadn't come along, ya might have been assaulted."

"… You… You're joking… right? Please don't tell me that there is someone on earth that would actually think that way?!"

Kamijou roughly shoved the blue haired girl away as her cheeks began to flush in a mixture of rage and embarrassment. She then began to gesture at the half conscious Index.

"Does this guy look like he has the ability to assault anyone?! Don't you dare try to apply you're strange delusions to real life!"

Even though Kamijou was verbally abusing that blue haired girl, the blue haired girl smiled at her and began to rub the back of her head.

"Hmmm… Well ya might be right there. Looking at him now, he doesn't look like that type to assault 'poor defenseless' girls like us. But ya still have to be worried about foreigners, ya know? Ya always hear stories on the net about nice, wholesome innocent girls like us meeting a dreamy foreigner, only to be turned into their little sluts."

Kamijou could do very little but sigh once she heard that.

"Those delusions of yours are just too fantastic for me to handle. In the future, could you make sure I never have one like yours?"

The blue haired girl chuckled before putting on an expression of amused interest.

"So then, Kami-chan, if the boy isn't ya cousin, or some foreigner out to rape ya, who the heck is he to ya?"

Kamijou felt her stomach do a twist in fear.

_Shit why did you have to ask me that?! I don't even really know!_

Kamijou felt the expectant gaze of the blue haired girl almost burn into her skin, and she could also feel the focus of Index return to the conversation going on around him. Feeling both of those, she sighed.

"He… Index… Is an… acquaintance of mine. We met a little while ago, and we were just-"

"I know that's all BS Kami-chan."

Kamijou felt every hair on her body stand up on end as she looked at the smiling blue haired girl. The blue haired girl began to nod while still smiling, and then pointed an accusing finger at Kamijou.

"Admit it Kami-chan! That silver haired stud is your boyfriend isn't he!"

"…"

Kamijou stood there in silence for a few moments, before she sighed in relief. This relief was short lived as the blue haired girl caught Kamijou in another vice like grip as they ground their teeth in fake rage.

"Damn ya Kami-chan! How dare ya leave me and Tsuki-chan in the dust and go get yourself a boyfriend! Not only that, but ya had to go and get a hot boyfriend as well! Ya sneaky gal ya!"

The blue haired girl began ruffling Kamijou's already messy hair, while Kamijou attempted to break from the vice like grip holding her. When she failed to do that, Kamijou attempted to calm the girl down.

"Okay, Okay Calm down now. This guy isn't my boyfriend or anything, he's just a freeloader who-"

The grip around Kamijou tightened almost to the point of having her ribs breaking. The blue haired girl turned to look at Kamijou with star in her eyes.

"Kamijou… did you just refer to that boy with that all powerful word of 'freeloader'?"

Kamijou tilted her head in confusion as she continued to break free of the grip holding her.

"… Yeah…? That is what he is. All he does is sit around all day, so that makes him a freeloader, right?"

The blue haired did not respond to Kamijou's question, already lost to her delusions. Drool was slowly falling from her mouth as more and more stars lit up in her eyes.

"Ahhh… Kami-chan… Alone with a freeloader… sharing every moment of every day together… all the situations they get into…"

Kamijou tilted her head in confusion as she heard the depths of the blue haired girl's delusions.

"Hold up a second! Earth to miss delusional! Didn't I just say that he was a freeloader?! A Free-Load-Er! There is nothing going on between me and him!"

The blue haired girl briefly snapped out of her delusion and nodded.

"Yeah, Yeah. I heard you."

_No you didn't, you fucking idiot!_

Kamijou continued to struggle against the grip she was in, failing miserably. The blue haired girl leaned in and whispered in Kamijou's ear.

"Hey… Kami-chan… Do you want some of those condoms I keep around just cause? We both know I'm not going to be using them any time soon, and it sounds to me that you will need them more than me."

Kamijou finally felt something snap, and with a strength she did not think she had, she through the blue haired girl off of her as her face lit up to the deepest crimson.

"Y-Y-Y-You! You lewd, scatterbrained little-!"

"…Kami… sama… It has been 14 short year… but I shall be returning to you now…"

As Index interrupted Kamijou's soon to be rant, the girl turned to look as the priest fell forward on to his face. It took Kamijou less than a second to figure out what had happened.

"Index!"

Kamijou kneeled down next to the boy priest to examine him. Index was sweating profusely, the entire front of his robe being weighed down with sweat, and his body shaking from heat exhaustion. The boy reached out with his quivering hand and grabbed ahold of Kamijou's sleeve.

"Touka… please… hear my dying confession… I don't feel like… I will last much longer…"

Kamijou immediately began to panic.

_What the hell do I do?! Should I carry him to a store? Call an ambulance? What do I do?!_

From behind her, Kamijou could hear the blue haired girl chuckle as she saw Index shiver on the ground.

"What, is he not used to the heat around here? He must have a real weakness to heat then if this is enough to make him nearly pass out."

Kamijou turned to look at the blue haired girl, and began to gesture at the nearly dead boy.

"Are you and idiot or something?! There is a person dying here, and you want to comment on how weak he is to heat?! Help me do something about this!"

The blue haired girl looked at Kamijou with a confused look on her face, but she then shrugged and moved to pick up Index.

"Why not? I didn't have much to do today anyway, so hanging out with you might be a good waste of time."

Kamijou ignored the blue haired girl, and moved toward the nearest building, the ice cream parlor, and approached the door. Once she got to the front door, however, she found that it was locked with a piece of paper taped on it. It read:

_To our beloved customers,_

_We regret to inform you that due to interior renovations, _

_we will be suspending our business for the immediate future._

_We apologize for any inconveniences this might cause._

From the depths of his heat stroke, Index reached out with one hand in a repenting gesture and finally managed to speak out.

"Oh Kami-sama, please forgive me for my sins are myriad and black. First among them is my sin of seeing Touka naked."

The blue haired girl looked at Index with a fully surprised look on her face, before she turned to look at Kamijou with a serious expression on her face.

"Yo Kami-chan, are you sure you don't want those condoms? I sound like you really need them."

Kamijou's face was so red that a random passerby would have said that the red had to have been painted on. Kamijou looked up to the sky in a defeated manner and yelled.

"Such Misfortune!"


	3. A Certain Out of Place Exorcist

**This work is based (mostly) on the work of Kazuma Kamachi and other writers. A translation from Baka Tsuki was used in its creation and I claim no ownership over their work. Please Read, Review, and Enjoy.**

* * *

><p>"… Such misfortune…"<p>

Holding a cheap plastic tray on which was balanced three milkshakes, Kamijou looked around herself as if she was in a daze.

After a few minutes of frantic searching on her part, Kamijou had finally found a place where Index could rest and recover. It was a fast food chain restaurant with decent air conditioning in it, yet because of that fact, the shop was crowded with people, from one side of the building to the other.

As Kamijou looked around the room with a grimace on her face, some of the other guest bumped into her, almost causing her to spill the milkshakes.

_Why did I have buy three of these fucking things? Two was all I should have gotten, but that blue haired idiot practically twisted my arm in telling me to get her one._

Kamijou sighed as she thought this, and, balancing the three shakes on the tray, began to brave the crowd that stood between her and the seating are where Index and the blue haired girl were waiting.

As she fought her way through the crowd, a group of high schoolgirls sat around their table, chatting to each other as if they didn't have a care in the world.

"Hey, Hey! Did you hear? Apparently Anzai went and used her telepathy to cheat on the last exam."

One of the girl sighed as she lowered her drink to the table.

"Yeah I heard. I was there when they took her in to question her. Afterwards I heard that they even organized a teachers' meeting to figure out what to do."

A third girl took a bite of her hamburger before speaking.

"So she must have really gotten in trouble if all the teachers got involved. What happened to her?"

The second girl wrinkled her nose a bit before continuing.

"Well get this. Apparently all the teachers' at the meeting agreed that since developing esper powers is the core of the curriculum, not grades in general education, that using an esper power in a test isn't considered cheating."

"WHAT?!"

The girl with the hamburger slammed her fist down on to table in front of her, causing it to shake and for several of the people surrounding the table, Kamijou included, to look at them.

"THAT'S SO UNFAIR! HOW COME SHE GETS TO USE HER POWERS BUT WE CAN'T?! I WANT TO USE MY POWER ON AN EXAM AS WELL!"

The first girl, who had covered her ears when the hamburger yelled, lowered her hands and looked at the hamburger girl with questioning tilt to her head.

"Hold on a minute. Isn't your power pyro kinesis though? How in the world are you going to use pyro kinesis to cheat?"

The girl with the hamburger looked slightly confused, scratching her head as she thought of an answer."

"Well… Couldn't I just threaten the teacher with fire and force him to give me the answers to the test?"

As the girl's conversation degraded into how they would use their various powers to cheat on a test, Kamijou sighed to herself as she heard it.

_Only here in this city would you here such bullshit conversations._

Academy City was indeed a city that existed outside of the ordinary everyday logic that governed the world. Many of the 2.3 million "students" in this city had some sort extra sensory power, ESP for short, so it was more fitting to call Academy City on large-scale "power development group".

Kamijou was no exception to this, but she didn't have such a clear idea about what her power could do. All she knew about her power was that it was called "Imagine Breaker" in the Academy City Power Catalog, and that it was located in her left hand.

Kamijou looked down at said left hand and shook her head.

_I don't know what the hell you do, but I'm not in a hurry to find out. Considering all the strange powers in the catalog, you could create black holes for all I know._

Sighing to herself again, Kamijou continued to shove her way through the crowd of people, carefully moving in such a way as to not spill the milkshakes. Because Kamijou had been forced to buy the three milkshakes for the group, she had unwillingly left it up to the blue haired girl to find a table for the three of them. As she ducked under another stray arm, Kamijou grit her teeth.

_With all these people here, I would be surprised to find a place to stand, much less a place to sit. Hopefully Index will be fine either way._

Kamijou saw a sudden break in the crowd, and pooling what remained of her flagging strength, she pushed through the crowd to a fairly open area. Not many people ventured forth into that area, and when they did they quickly popped back into the crowd. After taking a look around at this, Kamijou tilted her head in confusion.

_Why is this part so deserted? _

"Oi… Kami-chan! Over here!"

Kamijou turned to look at the voice, and once she saw where it was coming from she got an answer to her question.

There was a single table in the area, and standing up, waving Kamijou over was the blue haired girl. The girl's shirt was still fairly see through, giving the entire store a clear view of her upper body, but she still standing up and waving without a shred of embarrassment.

Sitting in the chair next to the blue haired girl, was a barely conscious Index. Sweat was still pouring down his face, and it looked like it was a struggle just to keep his head up.

With those two alone Kamijou could understand why people would stay away from this area of the shop. However, the strangeness did not end with those two.

Sitting on the other side of the table, was a boy who had his feet on the table, and leaning back on the hind two legs of his chair. The boy had spiky, bone white hair, and dressed in a black long sleeve button up shirt, with black slacks. His hands were hanging limp at his sides, with his left hand covered with a single black glove.

The boy's face was the picture of despair. His silver eyes were giving off a blank stare into the ceiling, while his mouth hung open without a care. His pale skin, which gave him away to be a foreigner, was relaxed in utter surrender. On the left side of his face was a strange looking tattoo, starting with a red star on his forehead, just above his left eye, before running down his face to end at the left side of his jaw.

The moment Kamijou saw this boy; something in her brain seemed to go off in warning.

_This guy… Is bad news isn't he? _

It was as if Kamijou had some sort of misfortune detector in her brain, telling her that the white haired boy would bring her nothing but trouble if she interacted with them. She had no concrete evidence to base the feeling on, but she had the feeling all the same.

Kamijou stealthily approached the table and began to whisper to the blue haired girl, always keeping an eye on the white haired boy.

"Hey… Why did you have to pick this table? Was that guy here when you chose this table, or did he just walk up and sit here like some weirdo?"

The blue haired girl grabbed one of the milkshakes off the tray in Kamijou's hands and gestured for the black haired girl to sit down.

"Does it really matter whether or not this guy is here? Your friend here looked like he would have collapsed from the effort of standing up in here, so I didn't really have a choice then did I?"

Kamijou sighed and looked at Index, who was swaying side to side while he was barely conscious. Kamijou set a milkshake in front of the mini priest and smiled.

_Well… At least this girl choose to sit near this weirdo for a good reason, and not some-_

The blue haired girl lowered the milkshake straw from her mouth and grinned up at Kamijou.

"Besides, how often do you get a chance to sit with two foreign hunks like I am now? I was hoping that if he wanted to talk, I could get a 'friend' like yours."

Kamijou almost fell flat on her face, but she managed, through sheer force of will, to stay standing and glare at the blue haired girl. The blue haired girl had decided that Kamijou was no longer worth her attention, and had started to ogle the white haired boy across from her. Kamijou also took the time to look at the boy and sighed.

_I still feel that nothing but trouble will come from this, but Index does need to rest, and this is the only table available. _

With that Kamijou sat down and thought some famous last words.

_Besides, nothing that bad could happen, could it?_

As soon as she was in a comfortable sitting positon, Kamijou started to take a drink from her own milkshake. It was at that moment that the blue haired girl decided to take interest again and look at Kamijou.

"So… Kami-chan. How far have you gotten with your 'friend' here?"

Kamijou nearly spit out her milkshake in surprise, remembering the girls earlier comments, and with a shocked look on her face she looked at the blue haired girl who was grinning at her with an innocent air about her.

"Do… Do you possibly mean…?"

The blue haired girl gave Kamijou a rather toothy grin and nodded.

"Of course. I'm asking how far you two are along sexually."

This time someone did spit out milkshake, but it was neither the blue haired girl nor Kamijou. Index, who had absent mindedly been drinking from his milkshake, was now focused on the conversation and staring at the blue haired girl with an expression of shock.

"H-H-H-How can a lady a-a-ask such a question?! Why would you ask such a question!?"

The blue haired girl turned her attention to Index and grinned at him.

"So, you're one of the shy types I see."

Before either Index or Kamijou could react, the blue haired girl had thrown her arm around Index and had dragged his face down to her chest.

"Well… that is attractive in its own way, I suppose. A cute foreign kid that gets beet red whenever perverted stuff is brought up… Ah! Like right now."

Index's face had indeed gone bright, seeing as how his face was resting against the fantasy of all teenage boys. He struggled to break free of the blue haired girls grip, and, failing that, looked to Kamijou for help with pleading eyes.

The blue haired girl also returned her attention to Kamijou, still holding Index against her chest.

"So Kami-chan… What's your answer?"

Kamijou clicked her tongue in annoyance.

_Listen girl. I know you are playing around right now, but answering a question like that is something that I don't want to do. If I just say one thing off, then Index will get suspicious. How the hell am I supposed to explain this-_

"Are you a fucking idiot, or do you just play one on days like today?"

Kamijou nearly jumped out of her skin in surprise as she heard the new voice enter the conversation. She turned to look at the speaker, and found that the white haired boy had gotten into a proper sitting position, lowering both the feet of his chair, and his own, to the floor. He glared over at the blue haired girl with a sneer on his face as he pointed at Index who was trapped in her grip, who both also looked surprised at the white haired boy talking as well.

There was a silence at the table as no one worked up the courage to talk. After a few moments of this, a vein on the white haired boy's forehead began to bulge out as he grew annoyed.

"Did you hear me or not? Are you pretending to be an idiot, or are you really one?"

The blue haired girl snapped out of her daze to point at herself, wordlessly asking whether or not the white haired boy was talking about her. The white haired boy sighed and nodded his head.

"Yes, Yes. You. So are you an idiot or not? Because if you are asking such a stupid question, then you must either be an idiot, or pretending to be one."

The blue haired girl tilted her head in confusion, and gesture at Index and Kamijou.

"Do you mean how far Kami-chan and her boyfriend here have gotten sexually? How is that a stupid question?"

Kamijou felt her face light bright red after the blue haired girl asked the question a second time, and she saw Index grow red in embarrassment as well. Kamijou shot the blue haired girl a glare as the white haired boy sighed.

"You don't know anything do you? It's a stupid question due to the fact that the kid is wearing an Anglican priest's robes, the Walking Church version no less. The only group of people who wear that are high ranking members of the church, people who would rather die than commit a sin such as pre-marital sex."

_Walking Church… That's what Index kept calling that outfit whenever I asked him about it. Is it a type of style that is popular amongst priests?_

The blue haired girl looked down and began to examine Index's clothes with a critical gaze.

"So… this kid's outfit isn't just some random cosplay? Here I had thought it was just some strange outfit that fit Kami-chan's tastes."

Kamijou felt her anger boil over and slammed her hands down onto the table in front of her, glaring at the blue haired girl with a white hot gaze.

"Now wait just a minute! How in the world did you get the idea that I have a fetish for priest outfits? Did you think I was forcing him to wear that outfit?"

The blue haired girl looked up at Kamijou with a grin on her face and began to giggle at the raging black haired girl in a teasing manner.

"Well Kami-chan, considering all your other fetishes, I wouldn't be surprised. Some of the things you have told me you were into…"

Kamijou recoiled in fear.

_Wait, I have fetishes? I haven't found a single thing relating to something like that, but then again I haven't really been looking. What sort of things was I into?!_

Kamijou's gaze drifted down to Index, who was still trapped in the grip of the blue haired girl, and suddenly all thought of fetishes left her mind.

Index, who had an embarrassed flush to his face and struggling only seconds before against the blue haired girl's vice like grip, now had a skin tone that was as pale freshly fallen snow and was now sitting shocked still, the expression of fear crystal clear as he stared at the white haired boy intently.

The white haired boy instantly noticed Index's gaze, and glared back at the young priest with a perplexed tilt to his head and a grimace.

"Oi… Anglican. Is there something you want from me, or is my face captivating to you? Because the way you're looking at me makes think that you might have a problem."

Index nearly jumped in fear as the white haired boy spoke to him, and he quickly shoved his way out of the blue haired girl's grip, keeping his eyes on the white haired boy all the time. Swallowing dryly Index composed himself before speaking to the white haired boy.

"I'm sorry about that, you just… peaked my interest a bit. Forgive me if I am wrong, but… You referred to my outfit as the Walking Church, didn't you? I was just wondering… How do you happen to know that name?"

Index did his best to look bravely at the white haired boy as he finished speaking, but Kamijou saw through it extremely easily. A few beads of fear sweat began to form on Index's forehead as he attempted a calm smile, which turned into an uneven grimace.

The white haired boy looked across at the current state of Index, and, seeing through the boy's façade, sighed to himself as if he was tired of something. After a few moments of annoyed silence, the boy finally chose to acknowledge Index's question.

"If you are asking that question… does that mean that you really do have a problem with me? I don't see why someone would ask something that is so obviously answered."

Kamijou could not help but dryly swallow as she looked between the annoyed white haired boy, and the quivering in fear Index.

_I might just be imagining things, but isn't the mood around here getting a bit… tense? Am I missing something here?_

As Kamijou pondered this, the blue haired girl, who was now pouting because she had been ignored, chose to speak out in boredom.

"So then… Mister. May I ask what the two of ya are talkin' about? Cause from a person on the outside of it, I understand what the two of ya are sayin'."

Index nearly jumped up in surprise when the blue haired girl asked that question, but the white haired boy simply looked over at the girl with a confused look on his face.

"Excuse me, but what did you just ask about?"

The blue haired girl gestured towards the air in between Index and the white haired boy.

"Well… I asked what the two of ya were talkin' about. I've just been sittin' here listenin' to ya two talk, so I just got curious. It's obvious that it might be interesting."

Index began to look back and forth between the blue haired girl and the white haired boy, a worried look on his face as he did this. The white haired boy did not seem as distressed, his only response to the girl being another sigh as if he were tired of something.

"You are quite the nosy person aren't you? People like you are called, by some, the worst kind of trash imaginable."

The blue haired girl smiled at the white haired boy, though Kamijou could see a faint flush of her cheeks as she did so.

"Ya'll have to try harder than that to dissuade me like that mister. I'm quite the masochist I'll have ya know."

Kamijou glare at the blue haired girl with a heated stare.

"You idiot, who in the world would-"

"AHHHHHH!"

The blue haired curled up as her face became a deep red, and sweat began to form on her body. After a few seconds of obvious clenching, the blue haired girl relaxed and sighed in a satisfied sort of way.

"Ah… Kami-chan… Ya can't do that to me when I'm on the edge. I might be used to your voice, but when I'm on the edge like that… it really isn't good."

Kamijou's mouth hung open in shocked silence, completely numb to the world after what she had just seen. Index, who had been shifting his focus between the white haired boy and the blue haired girl, now stared at the blue haired girl, his mouth completely agape and his eyes dull as if his mind had taken leave of his body.

The white haired boy sighed in a defeated manner, his shoulders sagging as he did so. He sat there as if he were pondering something important, before he grinned as a mischievous way.

"Well… I guess a little bit of an explanation won't hurt. I'm not really doing anything anyway, so I could use a little excitement. Of course I must ask if the priest here is fine with me talking about this."

Index did not respond, his face still looking like his mind was absent. The white haired boy clicked his tongue in disappointment at this, but continued to grin in a mischievous way regardless.

"Since the priest is out of it right now, I guess it is fine to talk about this. Though, with that being said, I need to figure out where to start the explanation."

The white haired boy looked like he was pondering something again. Kamijou looked at the pondering boy and silently sighed to herself.

_Am I the only one who thinks that will be a huge lead up to nothing? _

The white haired boy seemed to reach a decision.

"Well, the ideal starting point would be to say that I was an exorcist."

"… An… exorcist?"

As Kamijou said this, the white haired boy leaned in to stare at her. His expression was one of scrutiny and interest.

"Hmmm… skepticism… Not what I had expected, but that itself is interesting."

Kamijou leaned back from the boy's scrutinizing face, and sighed to compose herself.

"What in the world are you talking about? Did you really expect me to give a different answer to something that sounds so bizarre?"

The self-proclaimed former exorcist tilted his head in an interested confusion as he looked at Kamijou, eventually nodding in agreement to Kamijou's comment.

"Well I had thought that since you seemed to be friends with the priest here, I had thought that you would have at least given me the benefit of the doubt, not skepticism. Do you actually know about the world where your friend comes from?"

Kamijou wanted to shout out in rage as another heart attack situation appeared before her.

_Can I not catch a break around here?! Why does every person and their mother ask me such dangerous questions?!_

Kamijou sighed and looked over at Index, who was now slightly in tune with his surroundings. He had not been paying attention to the conversation, so he was looking back and forth between Kamijou and the former exorcist with a confused raise of his eyebrow.

Kamijou sighed and began to answer the question.

"Well… You see the thing is-…"

It was at that moment that the blue haired girl sighed and nodded her head as if she were agreeing with something.

"I finally see what is going on here Kami-chan. Ya accidental meeting with me today was all cunning ploy to convince me to join this little role-play group of ya's wasn't it?"

Index, who had been attempting to recover from the earlier obscenities of the blue haired girl, collapsed into a blank faced quivering mass. The former exorcist rubbed his chin and raised his eyebrow in surprise.

"Well… That is certainly a response I wasn't expecting."

Kamijou felt something in her brain snap, and she reached across the table to grab the blue haired girl by her shoulders, lifting her up while glaring into her eyes with a hot gaze.

"Listen here you lewd idiot! How many obscenities are you going to spout before you are satisfied!?"

The blue haired girl did not seem at all angered to be man handled by Kamijou, and in fact seemed to be used to it as she raised her finger and waved it back and forth at the black haired girl.

"Now, now Kami-chan, no need to be embarrassed. If you had wanted me to join your role play so badly, you could have just been straight forward and asked me. Let me see here… since we have a priest and an exorcist, does that make you the naughty witch?"

Kamijou was seconds away from choking the blue haired girl she was holding as the former exorcist laughed from behind her.

"Now that! That was quite interesting! What in the world was I doing, sitting here boring myself to death for?"

"Shall I remind you, or would you rather continue goofing around with your new… acquaintances?"

Kamijou, the blue haired girl, and the former exorcist turned to look at the source of the new voice interjecting themselves into the conversation, their reactions to it ranging from utter annoyance to mild interest.

The source of the voice was a man with red hair tied back into a simple, unkempt ponytail, who had features that clearly marked him as a half Japanese. He was a tall man, standing a full head taller that Kamijou, and he had a look of being fairly fit individual from his build. The man had on a white undershirt, with a black leather jacket over it, and a strange gold and ruby cross necklace hanging from his neck. He had on a pair of simple blue jeans and normal black boots, with a set of simple rings on his hands.

The man looked around the group with a thinly veiled look of disinterest, taking a few seconds to take in each member's details, with particular interest on Index, who was still had a vacancy in his head, and the former exorcist, who had a confused raise to his eyebrow as he looked at the red haired man. When he had finally examined everyone, the red haired man sighed as if he was tired.

"In a normal situation… I would have to say sorry for being late, but there were several exonerating circumstances that caused me to be late. I'm sure a person of your… disposition, can understand."

Kamijou tilted her head in a confused manner.

"Uhmm… Are you-?"

"I would be quiet if I were you."

The voice was extremely level in tone, but Kamijou could feel the killing intent from the red haired man's simple response. Every nerve in Kamijou's body went on edge, telling her to run away and preserve her life. The attack lasted a single second, after which control of Kamijou's returned to her, but the effect of it left Kamijou quivering in fear.

_Wha-What the hell was that?! Is this guy… Is this guy really dangerous?!_

"Calm down now, you bloody idiot. That guy is here for me, not you, so your heart can rest easy. He probably won't kill you just for existing, but then again this is my first time meeting him."

Kamijou looked to see the former exorcist stand up with a fairly weary look in his eyes, but a sly grin on his face. With a sigh, the former exorcist walked up to the red haired man and extended his gloved hand for a handshake.

"I'm certain that you have heard many things about me, and I'm certain that you have already formed your opinions about me, but I'm hoping we can get along for the brief amount of time we spend together."

The red haired man looked down at the outstretched hand with a disinterested gaze, before he sighed in a tired way.

"Shall we go to a more secure area before we continue this dialogue? Discussions of this nature are fairly… sensitive, and it would be best to leave out the general public from them."

The former exorcist continued to smile, but retracted his gloved hand with a sigh as he nodded.

"Certainly, I can understand that sentiment completely. Do you know of a good spot, or-?"

"Uhmm…?"

Kamijou was not at all certain as to why she spoke up, but once the sound had left her mouth, she felt both of the men's gazes fall on her. For a brief second, Kamijou felt the wave of killing intent wash over her, causing her body to freeze again, but with a dry swallow, she powered through it.

"Are… Are you certain that this is okay? I mean you just said that you have never-…"

Kamijou was cut off as the former exorcist reached up with his gloved hand, and flicked her in her forehead. Reaching up to the flicked area, Kamijou took a step back and gave the former exorcist and angry glare.

"What the hell was that for? Do you always flick people who want to ask you a simple question?!"

The former exorcist chuckled at Kamijou with a grin on his face.

"Don't go worrying about small stuff now. While I had a nice little diversion with you here, I wouldn't consider it enough for you to make yourself concerned with me. Just go back to your day and enjoy it. If you are lucky, you might not meet me ever again."

_Then that will mean that I will meet you again in an instant._

As Kamijou was thinking this the red haired man and the former exorcist nodded to each other and began to push their way through the crowd. Kamijou started to reach out to stop them, but she stopped halfway when she realized that they wouldn't stop even if she said anything. As the two men disappeared into the crowd, Kamijou sighed in frustration.

_Should I have really let that happen? I know it's none of my business but… something just didn't feel right there. Should I-_

The blue haired girl looked up at Kamijou and a grin began to form on her face.

"So your role-play group also accepts bi-sexuals, huh? That's very good news for me."

Kamijou heard something snap again, and, in an instant, dove at the manically giggling blue haired girl.


	4. A Certain Magician's Apperance

_**This work is based (mostly) on the work of Kazuma Kamachi and other writers. A translation from Baka Tsuki was used in its creation and I claim no ownership over their work. Please Read, Review, and Enjoy.**_

* * *

><p><em>That damn lewd idiot! Tires me out all day with her perverted bullshit, and then she runs off as nothing happened!<em>

As the daylight slowly disappeared as the sun sank below the horizon, Kamijou sighed to herself over the blue haired girl who was no longer with her and Index.

After the encounter with the white haired former exorcist, the trio had went off and started messing around, their escapades funded somewhat unwillingly from Kamijou's wallet. After they had exhausted the afternoon and Kamijou's funds, the blue haired girl had run off, saying that there was a certain café she wanted to check out before she went home. When Kamijou questioned what sort of café it was, the blue haired girl grinned at Kamijou and asked whether or not she wanted to come and see for herself.

In a less than graceful way, Kamijou had declined the offer, taking Index and what remained of her cash, leaving the blue haired girl with a disappointed pout on her face.

Now, as the warmth of the sun slowly disappeared, Kamijou sighed again as she felt the numbness of an overly long day spread throughout her body.

"Touka… Are you okay? You've been sighing a lot today, much more than usual in fact."

Touka looked over at Index, who had now been revitalized by the lack of summer heat, and was looking over at Kamijou with a concerned look in his eyes.

Kamijou resisted the urge to sigh again, and returned Index's gaze of concern with a smile that she wanted to say 'I'm fine'.

"You don't have to worry so much Index. I'm totally fine, I'm just a tiny bit tired from everything that's happened today."

Even though she had said that, Index continued to stare at Kamijou with a concerned look, but, after a moment, he nodded and turned his gaze elsewhere. When his gaze left Kamijou's face, Kamijou could not help but frown and internally sighed.

_If only I didn't have to face all these situations where I could blow this entire charade, then I might not be as tired as I am. I just feel like some sort of weight has been has been dragging me down, but I can't do anything about it._

Kamijou again resisted the urge to sigh and instead stretched as if she were tired.

"Oi… Oi Touka!"

Kamijou snapped out of her trance to find that Index was tugging on her sleeve and pointing at something in the distance. When Kamijou followed the gesture Index gave her, she could only hold her head in annoyance.

_Oh for fuck's sake Index._

Index was pointing at a cardboard box, sitting just outside of an alleyway. Within the cardboard box sat a quivering white form, its full form partially obscured by the looked back at Index, who had shining stars in his eyes as he saw the obvious animal in the cardboard box. When Kamijou saw that she could only sigh.

"No Index. We can't do that, so don't even think about. My dorm has a strict no pets policy, so bringing one back is an absolute no-no."

_Not to mention that letting freeloaders, and especially males stay in a girls dorm is also forbidden, but let's not say anything about that, shall we?_

Index, who knew nothing about Kamijou's plight, frowned in a disapproving manner and gestured towards the box with white form in it.

"Touka… If no one does something for that poor animal, it will most likely die. Whether it will be in the freezing cold of tonight or the blazing heat of tomorrow, that weak creature will die. As a person who is responsible for looking after all of God's children, be they animal or human, I cannot allow poor Sphinx over there to suffer like that."

Kamijou could do little else but sigh in the face of Index's argument.

"Look, Index, I can understand that the animal will have a hard time, and that you don't like it, but my dorm's policy explicitly states…"

Kamijou's argument trailed off as she realized something that had almost gotten by her.

"Uhmm… Index… Did you just give a name to that animal?"

Index jumped as he realized what he had done, before clapping his hands together in front of him in a rushed praying gesture, trying his best to pretend that Kamijou didn't ask a question at all.

"Oh my father who art in heaven, please lend me the skill necessary to soften this hardened heart and save one of the less fortunate."

Kamijou felt a sweat drop roll down her face as she looked at the priest, before she sighed in despair.

"Index… come on now. The fact stands that, regardless of your zeal, my dorm does not allow animals. The dorm manager is already angry for all the damage 'I' did, so it would be best not to piss her off more."

_Not to mention getting you thrown out onto the street… along with me._

Despite Kamijou's sound argument, Index only clasped his hands tighter and put on a resolute expression.

"Touka, you just don't understand. A true saint should be able to do the lord's work, regardless of what the world does to them. Even if it causes them nothing but problems, the lord's work is greater than petty human concerns."

Kamijou felt her eyebrow twitch involuntarily and her body temperature rise in rage.

"Oh…? Then I must be doing the lord's work by taking you in, because you have given me nothing but problems, you Chibi priest."

"…"

Index fell silent after that, his entire resolute charade disappearing the second Kamijou's retort left her mouth. Index's robed shoulders slumped forward, and a defeated look took over his face.

When she saw him like this, Kamijou could only sigh.

_Great… there I go sticking my foot into it again. I didn't want to sound so mean, but I couldn't really do anything else. God damn, it why do I feel so lonely right now?_

Kamijou looked over at the cardboard box again, out of curiosity to the form which was in the box, just in time to watch it dart away into a nearby alleyway causing Kamijou to bite her lip in frustration.

_And here I was going to help you out. Now what am I going to do?_

Kamijou turned her gaze back to Index, who still looked fairly crestfallen from Kamijou's earlier comment and didn't look like he was going to recover easily. Kamijou could only scratch her head in distress as she looked at him.

_Well… Let's just start by apologizing. I did kind of go too far._

"Hey… Index I'm-"

Suddenly, and without giving Kamijou a single warning, Index's head shot up and his crestfallen look on his face disappeared as one of concern filled the void left by it.

"Touka… Can you feel that?"

Kamijou was taken aback by how serious Index had gotten and struggled to find the words to reply, she was shocked so much.

"Wha-What are you talking about? Feel what?"

Index turned to look away from Kamijou, to look around the surrounding area with a critical eye. The face that had only seconds before begged for the chance to help an animal was now looking around as if his life was in danger.

"You don't feel it? Mana. Mana is in the air."

Kamijou put on a confused look as she looked around the area with Index, not seeing, and, more importantly not feeling, anything out of the ordinary.

"Mana…? What do you mean by Mana? You mean that energy that is used in spells?"

In fantasy games, Kamijou wordlessly added to the end of the comment.

Index did not pay close attention to Kamijou's questions, and finally seemed to lock on to whatever he was looking for.

"Over there. The Mana is being gathered into a spell not far from here. The spell's attribute is… earth I believe? The ritual for it… is to use some sort of medium to absorb mana, and then release it if someone activates the trigger. The effect of its release is…"

Kamijou looked at Index, whose comments had shrunk to simple mutterings to himself, with a blank and confused gaze.

… _Is the heat stroke from earlier still affecting him? Because all I got from that was gibberish._

After a few more minutes of Index muttering to himself, he turned to look at Kamijou with a smile on his face, though anyone could see that he was clearly worried about something.

"Touka… You can go home ahead of me. It looks like I have to… get involved… with something."

Kamijou tilted her head in confusion as she looked at Index.

"Get… involved? What in the world are you talking about? Is something happening?"

Index looked as if he was struggling to come up with an answer to Kamijou's questions, and he began to gesture for Kamijou to leave.

"Uhmmm… Well the short answer is that someone is putting together a spell over in that direction, so I should go and investigate it."

Kamijou still looked at Index with a confused tilt to her head.

"What do you mean spell? Are you talking about Ma-?"

Before Kamijou could finish her question, Index's head spun around in the direction that he had said the spell was in, which was conveniently in the direction that the animal had run off in.

"There is someone… tampering with the spell?!"

Index began to run off, leaving Kamijou standing there in shocked silence without even saying a word. Before he disappeared into the back alleys of the city, Index turned back to look at Kamijou.

"Touka, please don't worry about me. I should be able to handle this real quick and be home soon."

And with that, Index disappeared out of Kamijou's view.

"…"

_Wha… What in the world is going on!?_

Kamijou sighed and looked after the direction where Index had run off in.

_It's obvious to me that the idiot just came up with an excuse to run off and grab that animal, but did he really have to act so serious when he did that?_

Kamijou put her hands on her hips and looked in the direction of her dorm.

_Should I head home right now? I mean this place should be safe, but if he were to run into someone with powers and a misunderstanding were to come about…_

"Yeah right I can leave. Knowing him he'll end getting attacked by some sort of pyrokinesis, or something worse. Guess I have no choice to but to go after him."

With a sigh, Kamijou started to walk forward toward the direction that Index had run off in.

She had taken two steps, when a voice spoke out from behind her.

"That is the appropriate response to take in this situation, though wholly unneeded in this situation."

Kamijou froze mid-step as those words reached her brain. While they seemed normal enough, there was something about them… a certain tone of familiarity that denoted a link between Kamijou and the owner of the voice.

Kamijou heard a sigh come from the voice behind her, and this time, Kamijou could clearly hear that the voice could only belong to a woman.

"Here I thought you two would be getting along strangely, but it seems that fear was all for not. The two of you seem to be getting along quite fine."

Kamijou swallowed dryly and began to turn towards the source of the female voice, trying her best to keep a blank expression.

_Well if this person does truly know me, hopefully they aren't a complete weirdo like that lewd blue haired girl from before._

Kamijou finally turned fully toward the source of the voice, just in time to see the girl grin at her with a lazy grin.

"Well… Shall I say it's been a while, Kamijou Touka?"

The owner of those words was a girl maybe a year or two Kamijou's junior, but just slightly taller than her senior on the account of her being a foreigner. Her flaming red hair and snow white skin only proved to Kamijou that the girl was a foreigner beyond a shadow of a doubt.

The red haired girl was dressed in an all-black nun's habit, minus the hood that all nuns seemed to wear. However, Kamijou found it hard to look at this girl as nothing but a textbook heretic.

Her ears had several piercings in each of her ears, each one of them with some sort of strange symbol hanging from them, all made of silver. Every finger of her hands had ring on it, some made of silver or gold, and some even with precious stones embedded into them. From the girl's slowly frowning mouth hung a lit and smoking cigarette, the smoke rising up to cross the black barcode that rested underneath the girl's right eye.

As soon as Kamijou took the entirety of the girl, she could only swear to herself.

_God dammit! I take that all back! I'll take a weirdo like the blue haired girl as long as I don't know this girl!_

Despite Kamijou thinking this, the red haired girl removed her cigarette from her frowning mouth and gestured at the student.

"What the matter with you? No 'hello' even after we haven't seen each other for a while? Are you really that cold towards people you know?"

Kamijou gritted her teeth and forced herself not to say a word.

_After this morning with that blue haired idiot, I'll take my chances with seeming strange with this one. Maybe they'll get so annoyed with me that they'll leave._

True to Kamijou's thoughts, the red haired girl's countenance slowly grew to become an annoyed glare directed at Kamijou.

"Really now? Nothing? Are you still so angry at me for two weeks ago? I know it must be hard to forgive me, but are you really still so pissed that you can't talk to me?"

Kamijou continued to grit her teeth and remain silent, cautiously looking behind her and judging the distance between her and the nearest alleyway.

_This girl is seriously giving me that same 'misfortune' aura that I got from the 'exorcist' earlier, and I really don't like that. This girl might have a piece of info about my former self, but I don't want to associate with this girl at all. I just want to run._

As Kamijou prepped her heart to run away from the red haired girl in front of her, that same girl took Kamijou's fascination with the nearest alleyway as concern for the boy who had run off seconds ago.

"Oh come on now! Do you really think that I am going to harm Index after everything that happened two weeks ago?! C'mon! All I did was lay down some Ophelia runes just to create a mana flow, and distract him for a few minutes while I talk to you."

Upon hearing the word 'rune', something in Kamijou's brain clicked as she remembered an odd piece of information.

She knew that the word 'rune' was a reference to the language of tribes of Germanic peoples that lived during the 2nd century. By inscribing these runes as words of power on surfaces, and then uttering the words of power, one could cause any number of phenomenon to occur.

For example, if someone wrote the runic word 'kenaz', or flames, on a piece of paper, and then uttered the word kenaz, one could cause flames to appear in any form they wish.

And, as it just so happened, at that very moment, the red haired girl pulled out a single card like object from her nun's habit, and muttered a single word, a wide and maniac grin on her face.

"Kenaz."

In that instant, from the red haired girl's hand, there erupted a bout of red and orange flames as if the girl's hand had a flamethrower attached to it. Slowly, though with seemingly little effort from the red haired girl, the gout of flames focused and grew to become what looked like to be a giant flaming sword.

Kamijou entire body froze in place as she saw this happen in front of her, her mouth agape in pure horror. The red haired girl continued to grin like a maniac as she raised the hand holding the sword of flames high into the air, looking at Kamijou with her gaze tinged with bloodlust.

"**Are you still just going to stand there silently like an idiot?! You could die at any second, you fool!"**

Even though Kamijou could not understand the words that were said in a foreign language, she could clearly understand the malicious glee that was apparent in them. In an almost unthinking motion, Kamijou raised her left hand up in a gesture of protection.

Without a moment's delay, or hesitation, nor even a glimmer of mercy in the girl's face, the red haired girl swung the flaming sword down at a virtually defenseless Kamijou. The sword hit Kamijou's outstretched left hand, and as soon as it came into contact with the hand, the sword exploded like some sort of flaming bomb, sending the flames scattering around the area.

After the explosion, the surrounding area was silent save for the crackling of the flames and the ragged breathing of Kamijou.

"Ha… Ha…Ha…"

Kamijou looked to her sides and saw the flames that had to have been at least 3000 degrees still roaring and melting the concrete into some sort of melted slag mixture. Kamijou looked down at herself, standing in the center of the roaring flames, completely and totally unharmed by the flames.

"Ha, Ha, Ha…"

Kamijou shakily turned her head to look at her untouched left hand, not a single piece of her skin blackened by the flames.

_Wa… Wasn't the name of that power… Imagine Breaker? Well… seems that it actually does exist…_

Kamijou brought her left hand down to rest on her face, grinning wildly as she did so, before laughing aloud.

"HAHAHAHAHA!"

Kamijou brought her left hand down from her face as her expression changed from a excited grin to a disgusted grimace. The student directed the disgusted grimace towards the strangely dressed red haired girl.

"What the hell… Is your fucking problem?! Are you fucking insane?! I could have died if you had fucked up in a small way."

The red haired girl looked over at the student, with a grin on her face and chuckling in the face of Kamijou's unbound rage.

"Well now… It finally seems like you want to talk to me… Should I be happy about this, or should I have just left you as you were, standing there with some dumb look on your face?"

Kamijou put her hand over her face and sighed.

"Are you only asking this now? Shouldn't you have given this some thought **before** you decided a course of action? I mean, you're lucky no one was around to…"

Kamijou looked around the area, one of her eyebrows slowly rising from confusion.

_Speaking of which, there was an explosion wasn't there? Usually if there is just the sound of something falling over people come to look, so why hasn't even one person come out to look at an explosion?_

The red haired girl seemed to know exactly what Kamijou was thinking, and smiled as Kamijou continued to look around foolishly.

"What are you looking for? Expecting people to start pour of the woodwork after all that noise we made?"

Kamijou looked at the red haired girl with an expression of disgust before sighing in similar manner.

"Don't tell me… You had something to do with that, didn't you?"

The red haired chuckled and began to rummage through her robes with a grin on her face.

"Well… I won't say whether or not I did, but I will tell you that those Ophelia runes from earlier can also be used to direct attention away from certain areas; Such as an area where an explosion would possibly go off."

Kamijou face palmed yet again and sighed in a conceding manner.

"Why the hell are you doing this to me? Did I do something to piss you off in the scant two weeks we've been apart?"

The red haired girl continued to grin at Kamijou while digging in her robes, and finally, with the all the flourish of a stage magician, the girl pulled out a somewhat plain manila envelope, which had strange markings around the flap.

"I'm not doing this to you specifically that you pissed me off, but rather because there are something I need to discuss with you; something that a normal person's ears shouldn't hear."

The red haired girl muttered a word underneath her breath, and the moment after, the flap of the envelope popped open. Styx threw the envelope over at Kamijou, and the student caught it from out of the air with an air of reluctance.

Kamijou looked at the outside of the envelope, carefully inspecting the symbols on the flap of the envelope, but getting nothing from it.

_So these are… runes… I guess? I'll guess they were used to seal the envelope and leave it at that._

With a sigh, Kamijou opened up the envelope and began to look inside at the papers within. At that moment, the red haired girl grinned and made a gesture with her hand.

"So tell me… Have you ever heard of the name 'Misawa Cram School'?"

The next moment all the pieces of paper that were within the envelope began to fly out of it, hitting Kamijou on the bridge of her nose.

"Gyahhh!"

Kamijou quickly grabbed the bridge of her nose, and, finding there was no major damage, glared over at the red haired girl. The red haired girl happily accepted the glare, smiling in a self-satisfied way that did nothing more than enrage Kamijou further.

_Bitch, Bitch, Bitch, Bitch…!_

Despite cursing out the girl in her mind, Kamijou swallowed any angry retort she could have given and began looking around herself in curiosity.

Floating in the air surrounding Kamijou were the several pieces of paper that were in the envelope, swirling and dancing around her as if they were animated sprites.

_... Fuck it. I'll just go with it. I don't know what the hell is going on anymore._

Sighing to herself, Kamijou began inspecting the dancing papers for information with an unenthusiastic gaze. It might have been that Kamijou was quickly scanning the papers, as they were stopping and starting to quickly for a normal person to read, but nothing from Kamijou's limited knowledge seemed to fit in with what was on the paper. It was possible that none of the info matched up because the former Kamijou had now interest in any form of entrance exams.

The red haired girl stood silent as Kamijou scanned the papers, but after a few moments she gestured with her hand, stopping the papers motion, and launched into an explanation.

"So, as you can probably gather from those documents, The Misawa family of cram schools are a group of college preparatory schools that currently hold a dominant share of the market for college prep schools. Apparently, due to its special practices, this group has an unbelievable 95% success rate for getting people into college."

With a snap of the red haired girl's fingers, a small pamphlet flew in front of Kamijou's face and opened up for the student to read. Kamijou quickly began to scan the piece of paper, seeing the information that matched up with the red haired girl's explanation.

… _Well I can see how this would be good in a normal situation, but considering the city we are in…_

As Kamijou was thinking that to herself, the red haired girl gestured again, causing the pamphlet to fly away from Kamijou and be replaced with a new one, this one titled 'The Misawa family of College Preparatory School: Academy City Branch'. Again, the red haired girl launched into an explanation.

"However, despite its practices outside of Academy City, the Misawa family of Cram Schools had come up with special features in order to accommodate for the fact that 99% of the student population of Academy City go on to college."

The red haired girl looked at Kamijou with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Considering your intelligence, you must be in the 1% that doesn't go to college."

Kamijou shot the red haired girl was she though was a warning glare, but the red haired girl simply chuckled in response. Kamijou swallowed whatever retorts she would have shouted at the girl, and instead asked a fairly obvious question.

"… Why in the world are you showing all of this pointless stuff to me again? Is there some sort of offer on right now where you get a discount for signing up with a friend?"

The red haired girl looked at Kamijou with a bemused stare before gesturing again.

"Well, considering that I'm not a student, or even a citizen, of this city, signing up for any sort of program within the city would be impossible."

The papers began to swirl and dance around Kamijou yet again, causing her to feel slightly dizzy from all the movement. After a few seconds of this, a several pieces of paper flew out of the group to stop before Kamijou's face.

"The reason I am telling you all this pointless info… is because I wish to simply clarify the reason why I am here."

Kamijou tilted her head in confusion at the red haired girl's comment, after which she folded her arms together.

"So what exactly are you here for then? I'm guessing it's not just for you to annoy me, right?"

The red haired girl sighed in an annoyed manner and held her head as if she had suddenly came down with a migraine.

"You know… If you could piece together information like a normal person, then you would understand why I'm here."

Kamijou gritted her teeth to hold back a fairly scathing retort for the red haired girl, one that would have pointed out how bitchy she was being.

_God damnit! If only I could remember who this bitch is then I could be as mean as I wanted._

The red haired girl did not recognize the struggle Kamijou was going through, shrugging in a conceding manner and sighed as if she were tired.

"Well I guess since you have such a low level of intelligence I guess I will have to explain it to you."

The red haired girl took a huge draw of her cigarette, sighing out a large could of nicotine laced smoke.

"There is something wrong within the halls of Misawa Cram School. And I… I have the wondrous job of dealing with it."

The red haired girl gestured at the papers that were floating in the air in front of Kamijou with an annoyed gaze in her eyes.

"As you can see from those reports there, some very strange occurrences have been going on in that school."

Kamijou sighed in a conceding way and began to look over the papers with a less than critical eye. Among the papers that were floating in front of her, Kamijou could pick out what the red haired girl was saying.

Among the papers were inspection reports, taken from the Academy City databases, that should have covered all the rooms in the Misawa Cram School building, but a second paper, containing a diagram of all the rooms inside of the building, showed that there were numerous rooms that were not listed in the reports, some of them in what would be inaccessible areas of the building.

Also among the papers was the electricity statistics of the building, and it clearly showed that the school was consuming much more electricity than it was expected to, making it clear that something big was taking up all that energy.

Finally, probably the most important factor that showed that something strange was going on was the entrance and exit numbers for the school, which showed a large number of people had entered the building, but not come out again.

With all of that evidence for it, Kamijou could not help but to believe what the red haired girl had said.

_Missing resources, hidden rooms, and disappearing people? I might be a bit paranoid… but this seriously reminds me of…_

The red haired girl sighed out another large cloud of cigarette smoke, and annoyed air about her as she did it.

"Well… as you can clearly see, all of that evidence points to some sort of cult existing within Misawa Cram School. And, considering where we are, I'm guessing it is a scientific one."

Kamijou looked over at the red haired girl with an annoyed look in her eye.

"…A scientific cult? …Really? Is that what you are going with? Just to clarify, you are talking about those groups that use gimmicks like false data or some dead Saint's DNA to try and legitimize their insanity?"

The red haired girl sighed out yet another cloud of smoke from her now exhausted cigarette, tossing the but of it out to the street and stepping on it.

"Well… To be honest I don't really know, I've never dealt with a scientific cult before. I suppose knowing what their motive was would be interesting, but as of right now it is irrelevant."

One of Kamijou's eyebrows rose in a questioning manner.

"Irrelevant? How in the world would information like that be irrelevant?"

The red haired girl looked at Kamijou with a grin that sent a shiver up Kamijou's spine.

"'How is it irrelevant?' Simple. It's irrelevant because the cult itself is irrelevant. The organization behind the cult has already been eliminated."

… _Somehow… I don't like the way that she said eliminated. It might just be my imagination, but I still don't like it._

Kamijou gestured at the papers that were surrounding her.

"Well then, if the cult has indeed been eliminated, then what the hell is wrong with Misawa Cram School then?"

The red haired girl sighed again and put a hand to her forehead in annoyance.

"That too is simple to figure out just from my presence. The reason why there is still a problem with Misawa Cram School is because it is currently under the control of a magician."

Kamijou felt her body freeze over at the last word of the red haired girl's explanation.

… _Magician? Is she joking with me or something? I know Index was going on about Mana and everything earlier but… _

Kamijou sighed before the thought reached its conclusion and put her hand to face.

_On second thought, let's just let that one go. If ESP can exist in the world, then I guess magic can as well. There is no point in such an argument right now._

With that thought, Kamijou redirected her full, undivided attention towards the red haired girl.

"So tell me… Why are you telling me all of this again? Because it just seems to me that you are telling me a bunch of random info with no real purpose."

The read haired girl sighed at Kamijou's question as if she were annoyed by it.

"Fine then. Let me explain it to you then."

The red haired girl glared at Kamijou with a ferocious gaze that caused the student to shiver once again.

"I'm the one who has to go and sort out Misawa Cram School, and you are going to be helping me."

"… Wait… What?!"

It had taken a few moments for the red haired girl's words to reach Kamijou brain, but once it did, Kamijou could not understand what had been said.

"What do you mean I'll be helping you?! I haven't agreed to help you out at all, so why in the world are you saying that I will help you?!"

The red haired girl sighed in a way that made it sound like she was annoyed at Kamijou's response.

"So let me get this straight… After giving you an accurate description of the situation, you decide that you can get away without doing anything? How very helpful of you."

Kamijou gritted her teeth in rage, but failed to keep her mouth shut.

"Now hold on a minute here! You might be fine going around and dealing with strange shit, but I'm just a just a normal high school student. I could die going into some strange situation like that!"

The red haired magician looked at Kamijou with a gaze of utter annoyance, one that made Kamijou afraid for her life.

"Now you're scared to fight a magician? Where was that fear two weeks ago when you were fighting me? As I recall you weren't too scared to charge headlong at me, even though the situation had nothing to do with you."

"Ghhh…"

_So I fought with this girl… No wonder I lost my memory. Fighting someone who can summon fire must have been so scary that my mind must have just blocked it out._

Regardless of her humorous thoughts, Kamijou crossed her arms in defiance as she looked at the red haired girl.

"Well I can still refuse if I want, right? Regardless of the situation two weeks ago, that was then, this is now. Just because I was so gung ho last time doesn't mean that-"

Before Kamijou could finish speaking, the red haired girl sighed again in annoyance, cutting off Kamijou speech.

"Do you not realize that, by you not helping me, there will be consequences?"

Kamijou shrugged in gesture to say that she did not really care before speaking.

"Oh what sort of consequences are there going to be? Are you going to attack me or something?"

The red haired girl looked at Kamijou, not even a glint of joke or merriment in her eye as she stared at the student.

"No. The consequence won't be that I attack you, but instead, it will be that Index will be taken away from you."

Those words were like a bucket of ice water being poured over Kamijou, causing her to freeze from the chock of them.

"… Wha… What do you mean Index will be taken away from me? Index is free to come and go as he pleases, so isn't his decision whether or not he will stay with me?"

The red haired girl chuckled in a mirthless sort of way, a joyless smile on her face.

"Did you forget everything that happened two weeks ago? Do you think that the leaders of Necessarius would simply let Index go just because you bested them once?"

Kamijou felt here heart skip a beat when the red haired girl asked that question, but the red haired girl simply shook her head and continued talking.

"No… Necessarius won't allow Index to leave after just that. They are content to allow Index stay with you right now, but if they feel that you lack a 'strong moral compass', otherwise known as a willingness to do what they want, they won't hesitate to take Index away from you."

Kamijou could barely breathe from the pressure being placed upon her at that moment, but she was still able to squeeze out a timid question.

"S-So… If I don't help you…"

The red haired nodded, that being a suitable answer to Kamijou's unfinished question.

"Yes. The powers that be at Necessarius will take Index away."

The finality of that statement caused Kamijou to shiver in fear, but, in the back of her mind, thoughts began to stream back and forth.

_She could just be lying to make me work for her. She is the person who just attacked me with a giant flaming sword. _

Kamijou looked down at the ground as she began to think about the reason she was debating this in her head.

_Why am I even debating this? Index has caused me nothing but trouble, and if he leaves I'll be able to live normally yet again. I can drop this façade…_

"… Fine… I guess I can help you…"

The red haired girl looked at Kamijou, who had put on a sad expression, and after a few moments the red haired girl gave Kamijou a sad smile.

"Well that is a sufficient answer for me and the higher up in Necessarius. I had expected you to agree to help me instantly, but I guess this will have to do."

Kamijou waved away the red haired girls consoling comment as she raised her head up. Even though she knew of no legitimate reason to keep Index with her, something deep inside of her, possibly a fragment of her former self, told her that letting Index go was the last thing she wanted to do.

_It might be a stupid thing to go off of… but I would follow that than anything else._

With that thought reaching its conclusion, Kamijou sighed as she glared at the red haired girl.

"So… What is it that you want me to do? Do you want me to be your meat shield or something for when you charge into that place?"

Styx waved away Kamijou accusing question as it appeared like she was in deep thought.

"There is still some time before my final preparations are ready, so you can head home now and, more importantly, find Index. I can feel that he has already removed the runes I laid out earlier, so I don't know what he is doing now."

Kamijou lazily waved in an attempt to hurry the conversation along.

"By the way… What are you going to do about all of these?"

Kamijou gestured towards the numerous papers still swirling around her, still dancing and and floating in midair.

"I doubt these are easy to carry around, and I'm not helping you clean them up."

The red haired girl looked at Kamijou with a slowly grinning expression that made Kamijou shiver in fear.

"Oh… did I not tell you? All of those papers have flame runes on them."

Kamijou froze in complete and utter shock and looked around at all the papers that were surrounding her. And inching ever so closer to her.

"… Wait… What?!"

The red haired girl simply smiled and said one word.

"Kenaz!"


	5. A Certain Brief Respite

_**This work is based (mostly) on the work of Kazuma Kamachi and other writers. A translation from Baka Tsuki was used in its creation and I claim no ownership over their work. Please Read, Review, and Enjoy.**_

* * *

><p>"That… god… damn… fiery… bitch! All of this is her fucking fault!"<p>

Kamijou shouted this at the top of her lungs in the relatively isolated peace of her dorm room, as she struggled into the last article of her new, clean outfit.

Earlier, specifically the moment when the red haired girl from earlier had uttered the word "kenaz", the very next moment Kamijou found herself surrounded by a swirling tornado of flaming paper. Swallowing the intense urge to panic, Kamijou had managed, somehow, to dive out of the way of a majority of the flame, escaping the situation with only ash all over her clothes, and her anger blazing throughout her entire body.

After she had escaped the flaming tornado, which had conveniently disappeared once Kamijou was out of danger, Kamijou had looked around for the red haired girl so to 'vent' her anger at her, but she 'regretfully' found that the red haired girl had completely vanished, leaving no trace of herself, save for a note stating that they would still be meeting up within the next few hours.

Without a suitable outlet for her anger, Kamijou simply swore from the moment she had left that alleyway, all the way back to her dorm room.

Kamijou could only sigh when she thought about how foolish she must have looked on the way back.

_Maybe… I should have actually waited until I got home __**before **__I started to swear as if I was a drunken sailor. Some of the people I was passing by were giving me weird looks… Though… then again… All my clothes were covered in ash… _

Kamijou sighed again, and performed the last adjustment to her outfit, making sure that everything was on correctly. When she was assured that everything was fine, Kamijou looked toward her bathroom door.

"Okay Index… It's fine to come out now."

Kamijou's bathroom door opened, and a sulking Index poked his head out, checking cautiously to see if what Kamijou had said was true. On his cheek was the red imprint of a hand, Kamijou's hand to be precise.

Kamijou had arrived home ahead of Index, as the boy had told her to, and she had been so absorbed in her anger at the red haired girl, that she had allowed instinct to take over and completely stripped out of her ash covered clothes in a rage, and only came to her senses just long enough for Index to open the front door and walk into room to see her in all of her nudity.

After a rather predictable chain of events, Index dove into the bathroom fearing for his life while Kamijou quickened the pace of her dressing, cursing as she did so.

Now that Kamijou was dressed and there was no clear threat to his life, Index began to limp his way out of the bathroom. Once Index was fully out into the room and Kamijou had a good look at him, she could see that he was in a poor condition. His rode had dirt staining the white fabric, and several places on it had stray small branches hanging on. He left leg looked particularly bad, the knee region being completely caked over with black dirt. There were also a few fresh, non-bleeding scratches on his face that were more visible where Kamijou's still red handprint was, but Index seemed to bare it all with a rather neutral expression across his face.

However, once Kamijou finished her assessment of him, her face took on an expression of concern.

"… Index… What in the world has happened to you?"

Index stopped dead in his tracks, and sweat began to form on his forehead as he began to look panicked by something. After a short moment of silence, Index began to wave one of his hands back and forth while the other reached down to his knee in an effort to cover it up.

"Wha- What in the world are you talking about Touka? I'm perfectly fine aren't I?"

Kamijou gestured towards the boy, specifically at his dirt caked clothes.

"What do you mean what am I talking about? How in the world did you think I would not notice you like this?"

Index began to grin in an embarrassed act and he slowly looked down at his clothes, an expression of utterly fake surprise slowly dawned on his face as he 'became aware' of them.

"Ohhh!... You mean these clothes, don't you? … You don't have to worry so much Touka. It's just a bit of dirt, right?"

Kamijou looked at Index, her annoyance clearly getting through to the boy by the way he cringed back in fear.

"What do you mean don't worry about it?! You look like you were in some sort of fight or something."

Index raised his hands in a gesture that was supposed to calm Kamijou down, while he began to profusely sweat in fear.

"C-Calm down Touka! I-In a fight you say? No, no, no, no, no! All this dirt wasn't from a fight or anything. It was all from… those runes from earlier."

Kamijou skeptically looked over at Index, the obvious lie hanging in the silence between the two people. After a moment of that silence, Kamijou scowled at Index.

"Those runes you say? Those… What did you call them earlier? Ophelia runes?"

Index pointed at Kamijou at that moment in a gesture that she got it right.

"That's right, the Ophelia runes! The runes were etched into a crawl space underneath one of the buildings, so to properly investigate them I had to crawl in dirt and through bushes to look at them."

"…"

_He's obviously lying to me. That red haired bitch from earlier didn't look like she had a single speck of dirt on her person… Though she did have the magic to summon a flaming sword. She might have had a power to sketch something underneath a building._

Kamijou sighed as she thought this, which Index obviously took as a sign that Kamijou didn't believe him.

"What? It's not my fault that the bloody thing- I mean the bloody magician carved runes in the underside of a building. All in all it was the best place for someone to hide them."

"…"

Kamijou put a hand to her forehead and sighed.

"Fine… whatever. Let's just drop it for now so I can keep my sanity. At the very least, cleaning your robe will keep you busy for the night while I'm out and about."

Index sighed in relief as he saw Kamijou visibly calm down, and his expression changed to one of curious interest. And that simple expression made Kamijou heart jump in her chest.

_Oh god. I really shouldn't have said that._

Kamijou quickly opened her mouth to try and rectify her mistake, but Index spoke out first, bringing Kamijou's fears to life.

"You're going out somewhere tonight? Where are you going?"

_God damn it! I should have seen this coming from a mile away, but once again, like a fucking idiot, I just put my foot into it._

While Index was not a regular annoyance in Kamijou's life, there were moments like this where he seemed to have some sort of desire to throw a spanner into the works. Kamijou sighed internally as she looked down at her feet in a quiet rage.

_Great. I have to go meet that psychotic bitch in an a little bit to go to… Misawa or whatever it was called, and now Index is curious._

Kamijou had found in the two weeks of living with Index that the boy's curiosity was the most destructive thing about him, falling way short of any malicious action he could take. Numerous things of Kamijou, her patience included, had been tested by the boys curiosity, and many of them, Kamijou's patience also included, had been nearly broken.

_This idiot only followed me today because he was curious about what a reference book was, and look how much trouble that caused me. If I take him anywhere near that red haired bitch, I just know bad things will happen. How in the world-?!_

Before she had realized it as a fact, Index's face was only a few centimeters away from Kamijou's, the boy priest staring up at her with a slightly annoyed glare.

"Touka… What in the world is wrong with you?"

Kamijou jumped back in surprise and she clutched at her heart as it began to beat at a thousand beats per second. The high school girl felt her face begin to light up red from embarrassment as she looked at a confused Index.

"Ah… Did I blank out there on you? Sorry I was just thinking about something stupid for a second. What did you ask again?"

Index still looked fairly confused at Kamijou's actions, but he still responded to Kamijou's question fairly normally.

"I asked where would you be going tonight? Is it somewhere interesting?"

Kamijou quickly began to wave her hands in a dismissive manner once she saw Index's eyes light up with curiosity.

"No, No, No. It's not interesting at all! I'm just going over to help a friend out with something trivial. There is nothing interesting about it in any way!"

The light of curiosity that blazed in Index's eyes dimmed somewhat, but didn't die, which, to Kamijou, was much more dangerous.

"Well… Is there any way that I can help you and your friend? I might be able to do something small to assist you guys out. What is it that you need to do?"

Kamijou continued to wave her hand in a continued attempt to dissuade Index's curiosity.

"Please, Index, don't worry so much about helping me with this. Besides, there is no way that you could-"

Index quickly cut off Kamijou's argument with a somewhat defiant look on his face, the curiosity in his eyes not subsiding at all.

"But how could you know that if you don't let me come along? I might just be able to do something that will help you out a lot."

Kamijou bit her lower lip in frustration as Index glared at her, the light of curiosity still shining brightly in his eyes.

_What in the world am I supposed to do now? There isn't really anything I can do to make him quit, so how am I-…?_

Kamijou's eyes wandered over to her kitchen, and suddenly an idea sparked in her mind once she saw the thing she needed to dissuade the boy's curiosity.

_Oh yeah… That seems like it will work._

Kamijou began to grin in a victorious manner as she looked back at Index, her answer to the boys curiosity on the tip of her tounge, waiting to rip loose.

"On second thought Index, you might be able to help out after all."

Index's face lit up with expectation at the thought of being able to help.

"Really!? Come on Touka, don't hold back! What can I do to help out?"

Kamijou felt only a small part of her cry at the thought of crushing Index's hope, but even that part of her told her that this was the best course of action.

"Well Index… The thing is… That my friend invited me over to take a look at her faulty microwave."

Index's entire countenance at that moment switch from an expectation of joy to a dreadful fear of what had just been said.

"Mi- Microwave… you say…"

Kamijou smiled and silently relished in her victory.

_Thank you god that Index knows absolutely nothing about technology or else that would have just been me spouting bullshit. Also thank you for giving him an innate fear of microwaves._

A few days ago, on a night where Kamijou was caught up in a particularly hard bit of cleaning, the girl had left it to Index to heat up some food in the microwave while she continued to clean. The horrors that had occurred as a result of leaving Index in charge of that simple task were too grisly to describe, and had resulted in Index being scarred regarding microwaves.

Even now, the boy looked over his shoulder into Kamijou's kitchen, shivering as his gaze fell upon the utterly normal microwave. He turned back to Kamijou, the light of curiosity that had been present in his eyes replaced utterly by tears.

"Uhmmm… Touka? I don't think I really want to go with you now…"

Kamijou suppressed the urge to grin in victory, and instead looked slightly disappointed at Index's response.

"Ah well, that's too bad then I guess. If you aren't going to be coming along with me, then I guess you are just going to remain here all night?"

Index grimaced in a defeated manner as Kamijou asked that question of him, but the boy reluctantly nodded in response to it all the same.

"… Yeah… I guess that's all I can do right now, isn't it? Just sit around and be completely useless, huh?"

At that moment, the small part of Kamijou that had been sad about crushing Index's hopes overtook all of Kamijou's brain.

_Why did I have to do this to Index_ _again? God damn it! Again, all of this is that red haired bitch's fault._

Kamijou quickly began to gesture in a way that was supposed to cheer up Index.

"C-Come on now Index, don't look so down about it. There are plenty of things that you've helped me out with."

Index looked up at Kamijou with an extremely glum and skeptical look on his face as he did so.

"Oh really now? I've helped you in some way? Name one instance where I have been helpful to you at all?"

Kamijou opened her mouth to respond to Index's question, but she stopped herself from saying anything when she realized something.

_This is a very damning question isn't it? If I respond with either way I might be exposing everything, and not saying anything is just as bad as saying anything as well! This is damned if you do damned if you-…!?_

Kamijou's train of thought hit a brick wall the moment she noticed something odd about Index. To be more specific about what Kamijou found odd about Index, what she found strange was a rather large bulge that stretched from his crotch region, all the way down the boy's left knee. As a result of its placement, and, irrevocably, her interactions with that blue haired earlier in the day, her mind instantly turned dirty.

_Wha-! When did that-…?! Is Index…?_

The very next moment Index's face appeared in front of the high schoolgirls, only a few centimeters separating the two of them.

"Touka? Is something wrong with you again?"

After Kamijou heard the boy say this, the bulge in his robe twitched.

_!_

In an adrenaline fueled rage, Kamijou raised up her hand and swung down at full force at Index's face, slamming into the boy's face to send him spinning in place not once, not twice, but three full times before he fell onto his back in a daze.

Once the adrenaline drained from Kamijou's body, Kamijou pointed at the bulge in Index's robes, her face blushing in embarrassment.

"Index… What the hell is that?"

Index slowly raised his head up, his face making it clear that he was still in a daze after that slap, his eyes completely out of focus.

"Wha…?"

Kamijou continued to point at the bulge in Index's robes, with, as she thought to herself, was an even greater intensity.

"What in the world is that?! That bulge in your robes?!"

Index looked down at the bulge in the front of his robes, and the boy instantly lit up in embarrassment.

"O-Oh… This? Oh… Well… Will you believe me when I say, that this isn't what it looks like? Because it's not."

Kamijou crossed her arms, and annoyed look on her face as she grimaced down at the afraid blushing boy.

"Really now? Then what in the world is it then? Because to me it looks like-…!?"

Suddenly, inexplicably, the bulge in Index's robes began to move again, but not the twitching that it had done before, but rather a violent thrashing movement that was… uncharacteristic of anything that would be near a male's crotch.

Kamijou's mouth fell open once she saw this and she looked over at Index, who was trying his best to not look up at her as this was happening.

Before Kamijou could say anything to break the completely awkward silence, the bulge in Index's robes began to move away from the crotch region of the robes, crawling down the robe leg. Once the bulge reached the hem of Index's robes, a head popped out.

_!_

Kamijou felt her breath get taken away as she looked upon the face of the creature that was poking its head out of Index's robes.

The base structure of the creatures head looked like that of a cat with white fur, but there seemed to be some form of wing like attachments, one flowing down from each of its ears. Also the eyes were completely disturbing to Kamijou, looking like dark red beads that reflected nothing in them.

_Wha- What in the world is this thing?! It looks very cute but… I just feel like I want to throttle it for some reason. Is that a normal reaction for someone to have?_

Kamijou calmly took her eyes off of the creature struggling to get out from Index's robes, and instead focused her attention on the boy priest's face as he continued to lie on his back, his face a flush with shame.

"Uhm… Index? Can I ask you something?"

Index gritted his teeth as if he could contain his emotions before he looked up at Kamijou with a shameful shadow over his eyes.

"Yes Touka… Yes you can ask me something."

Kamijou turned her gaze back to the creature that had popped out of Index's robes, which was now trying it's hardest to crawl the last distance to freedom. Kamijou did not rush to help the creature get free, but rather pointed at it with a questioning tilt to her head.

"I might be wrong in guessing this, but… Is that the creature from earlier, the one that was in the box? The one that I told you that you couldn't bring in?"

Index put a hand over his eyes in an imperfect effort to hide his shame, which failed due to Kamijou being able to see the bright flush of his face.

"Yes Touka… It is. It is that creature from before. The one you told me that I could not rescue from the harshness of the outside."

Kamijou sighed and watched as the white creature that had been in Index's robe finally struggle free of the boy priest's robes and jump up on Kamijou's bed. Once there, the creature began to look around Kamijou's room, while Kamijou took the opportunity to look at the creature better and take in more of its features.

The wing like attachments that Kamijou had seen under the creature's ears extended far enough from its head that the ends of them, which were slightly pink. Around the middle of the wing like attachments were two golden rings, one for each ear, which strangely seemed to float independently of the creature. Its tail was not the straight tail of a cat, but rather a strange fluffy thing that seemed to have no substance to it at all. On the creatures back was a strange red ring that was neither a part of its fur or painted on its body in any way.

Kamijou sighed as she looked at the creature and shrugged to herself.

_What in the world is this thing? Is it some sort of crazy person's experiment gone wrong or perhaps gone right? Because I doubt that something like this thing exists in nature._

The creatures ears perked up and it turned to look at Kamijou, a blank unexpressive look on its face as it stared up at Kamijou with its red beady eyes. Kamijou ignored the creature and turned her attention back to Index, who was now trying to get up.

"So Index… Can you please tell me why you picked up an animal that I explicitly told you not to pick up off the street? Did you want to piss me off or something?"

Index stopped halfway from standing up and instead went and sat on his legs, staring up at Kamijou with sincerity clear in his eyes.

"No! I didn't rescue that poor animal just to make you angry! I did it for the reasons that a normal person should take when saving a poor disadvantaged creature. That poor creature came up to me after I had finished dealing with those runes, and looked up at me with begging eyes… What would you have done in that sort of situation?"

_Personally I would have hit the thing so to scare it off, if I could contain myself and not kill it instantly._

Kamijou sighed instead of saying the thought in her head, and pointed at the boy priest's dirt caked robes and branches hanging from them.

"Then please enlighten me about one small detail Index. How in the world did you get like that? Because I now seriously doubt that you got like that from dealing with those runes."

Index silently looked at Kamijou for a few moments, before he looked down at his knees with a flush of embarrassment creeping across his face.

"We-Well… The poor thing was a bit confused once I moved close to help it and it ran off in a panic. So, naturally … being a helpful individual… I…"

Index's explanation began to trail off into incoherent mumbling, at which point Kamijou raised her hand, signaling for Index's explanation to stop and for her to take over.

"So, being the good natured idiot that you are, you decided to chase after it, and ended up dragging yourself through untold amounts of dirt and bushes as you were looking for it?"

Index returned to looking at his knees as the flush of shame returned to his face.

"Well… When you happen to phrase it like that…"

Kamijou sighed again and returned her attention to the animal that was now on her bed. The creature had apparently lost interest in the situation and had proceeded to curl up into a ball and fall fast asleep. After staring at the creature for another second, Kamijou gave yet another depressed sigh.

"Okay. Fine. The creature can stay here for a while."

Index's face shot up, a glimmer of joy clearly visible in his eyes.

"R-Really?! I can keep him?!"

Kamijou grinned at Index in a tired sort of way before nodding her head.

"Yes you can keep him here, temporarily. It's much too late for me to take the thing by a shelter, and even I don't feel right with kicking it out onto the street."

Index jumped up with an agility that was uncommon for a person wearing a full robe, and threw his arms around Kamijou.

"Thank you Touka! I promise you won't regret it!"

Kamijou nodded as she felt the blood rush to her face due to the embrace, but luckily Index broke of the hug quickly to go and look over at the (temporary) addition to the house. Kamijou looked at the smile on the boy's face and let out a contented sigh.

_Well… At least he's happy, right? Besides it's not like something horrible will come from all of this._

Unseen by Kamijou, the white creature briefly open up one of its bead like red eyes to stare at her, the hints of a smile slowly appearing at the edges of its cat like mouth.


End file.
